Liz:
1. What is done with artists proofs?2. Are seconds sold in a retail environment?

Thanks!Liz

Leni:
I believe some companies do sell off seconds to the public. I know Caithness do. (You often see them on ebay, where people seem to think being signed CIIG is a good thing, not realising it means a Caithness 'second' :roll: ) Whether Glass Eye do the same, I don't know.

An 'Artist's Proof' I would think is a different matter, and although I have heard somewhere that Caithness also used to mark these as CIIG, I don't know if that's true. I think Artist's Proof weights are more likely to have come out of a studio 'via the back door' if you take my meaning!

KevinH:
Liz, I would have responded to your "newbie" questions earlier but got bogged down with other things, then completely forgot about this message.

I think Leni's comments are on the right lines.

When I used the term "artist's proof", I was thinking about items that were specifically made to test a design and which could then have prompted some changes for the actual production output. In which case, parts of the "proof" may not have been as perfect as desired and also the finishing (of the base, for example) may not have been completed to usual standards. In some cases, such "proofs" could have been kept by the maker, held in the company stock room or even simply chucked out. They might also have been put into the market place by intention, or otherwise.

But what each "proof maker" in each company actually does with them probably differs every time one is made.

Another aspect of this is that occasionally weights can be found with a "1/1" mark, meaning "No 1 of an edition of 1", or just "a one off". If there was no follow up as a production run, then could such a one off be called a "proof"? Maybe it could, and maybe it was just that, but with a decision that something about the design was not suitable for progression.

Well, those are just thoughts off the top of my head. The truth is, I don't actually know the answer to the question. :D

Liz:
Thanks Leni, KevH ! :D

Thanks again everyone, hopefully someday I'll have enough knowledge to answer questions instead of asking them! And I will have all of you to thank for the guidance! :D

Liz

Frank:
Caithness also sell seconds through their factory shop and these are often sold on eBay and can fetch substantial sums, the have a CIIG mark.

Paul Ysart never sold seconds, they were destroyed but he was always on rocky financial ground. When you consider the cost of running a studio with todays energy prices it is not surprising that seconds need to be sold to make ends meet. To sell or not sell seconds is thus a commercial issue and not a moral one.

Vasart weights were deliberately making for the gift trade and not connoisseurs, mostly. Indeed many glassworkers need to produce bread and butter work in order to afford to produce their expensive art pieces.